Askerne Estate winery was established in April 1993 when wine lovers John and Kathryn Loughlin purchased the original 11.6 hectares site in Te Mata Mangateretere Road. ​They called the property Askerne, being the olde English name of Kathryn’s birthplace - Askern in Yorkshire, England.

At Askerne, the majority of fruit is hand harvested and sorted. Winemaking techniques have been refined in search of elegance, structure and the aromatic qualities that we desire for each wine style. The winemaking approach is to gently coax the flavours and aromatics from the fruit and then to polish and showcase them in all their glory. 
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The aspiration is to produce wines which complement food, but are vibrant and exciting when standing alone.

All the tours shown either include a visit to Askerne in their standard itineraries or it can be included on request.

The story of Mission Estate begins with a group of French Missionaries who sailed to New Zealand in 1838 with little more than their faith and a few vines. ​Mission Estate was established by these Missionaries in Hawke’s Bay in 1851, where vines were planted to produce sacramental and table wine and so New Zealand’s first winery was born. 

The winery is housed in an elegantly restored seminary building nestling in the Taradale hills and offers visitors sweeping views of the vineyards and coast beyond. The cellar door provides an opportunity to taste from an extensive range of wines in truly historic & beautiful surroundings.

All of the tours shown either feature Mission Estate in their standard itinerary or can be included on request.

Napier is known as the Art Deco Capital of the world. Following a massive earthquake (7.9 on the Richter scale) on the morning of Tuesday 3 February 1931, fires destroyed most of the commercial heart of Napier. The city was rebuilt in the style of that era and by the end of the decade Napier was the newest city on the globe.

Nowhere else can you see such a variety of buildings in the styles of the 1930s - Stripped Classical, Spanish Mission, and above all Art Deco, the style of the 20th Century. Napier's Art Deco is unique, with Maori motifs and the buildings of Louis Hay, admirer of the great Frank Lloyd Wright.

Napier is enhanced by palms and the angular Norfolk Island pines and bounded by fertile fruit and grape growing plains, dramatic hills and the shores of the South Pacific. In Napier, you can enjoy the legacy of its brave rebuilding and savour the spirit of the optimistic Art Deco era.

The style we now call Art Deco originated in Europe in the early years of the 20th Century, and its heyday was from 1920 to 1940. It became widely known following the great Exposition des Arts Modernes Decoratifs et Industriels, held in Paris in 1925 and from which its name was ultimately derived. By the late 1930s it was in its streamlined phase and after World War 2, the International Style, devoid of all decoration, held sway. Not until the late 1960s did people begin to rediscover it and take it seriously.

Art Deco expresses all the vigor and optimism of the roaring twenties, and the idealism and escapism of the grim thirties.
Its decorative themes are:

• Sunbursts and fountains - representing the dawn of a new modern age.
• The Skyscraper shape - symbolic of the 20th century.
• Symbols of speed, power and flight - the exiting new developments in transport and communications.
• Geometric shapes - representing the machine and technology which it was thought would solve all our problems.
• The new woman - revelling in her recently won social freedoms.
• Breaking the rules - cacophonous jazz, short skirts and hair, shocking dances.
• Ancient cultures - for oddly enough, there was a fascination with the civilizations of Egypt and central America.
• All of these themes are represented on the buildings of Napier, most of which are still standing today and are lovingly cared for by their owners.

All of these tours either include the Art Deco City in their standard itinerary or can include it on request.

In 1944 Percy Berry bought nine acres in Arataki Road, Havelock North. With his son Ian, Percy registered 131 hives to Arataki Apiaries Ltd, and began a journey that resulted in the Arataki Honey we know and love.

Today, family-owned Arataki Honey has three manufacturing sites across the North and South Islands of New Zealand, employs over 100 people and is home to 1.5 billion bees.

All the tours shown either include Arataki Honey on the standard itinerary or can include it on request.